Hundreds of passengers scramble to find a way home after deadly plane crash at Provo Airport
Jan 2, 2023, 9:19 PM | Updated: Apr 17, 2023, 2:55 pm
PROVO, Utah — Hundreds of people had their travel plans interrupted Monday after a small plane crashed, forcing the closure of the Provo Municipal Airport.
One person died in the crash and another was taken to the hospital in critical condition, while two others walked away with minor injuries.
Airport officials are waiting on federal investigators to arrive and begin their investigation before they can reopen the runway, said Brian Torgersen, airport director. They hope to reopen things by Wednesday evening.
PROVO AIRPORT CRASH
Just talked to Brian Torgersen,
airport director, who says the airport may be closed until noon tomorrow.Small plane crashed shortly after takeoff. One person dead, one person taken to hospital. pic.twitter.com/PTSMPRwlTH
— Michael Locklear (@MichaelLocklear) January 2, 2023
The crash happened at approximately 11:35 a.m. shortly after takeoff, according to Torgersen.
Debris from the crash littered the main runway, halting all arrivals and departures. About 10 flights out of Provo — mostly Allegiant — were canceled on Monday. About 10 more flights heading to Provo were either canceled or diverted, Torgersen said.
Torgersen called it “pretty impactful with today being kind of the end of holiday. Couldn’t have happened at a worst time for our passengers.”
PROVO AIRPORT CRASH
People are figuring out other plans now or hoping to fly out tomorrow.Since there's just one main runway (and the crash happened there), no other planes can arrive or depart until NTSB investigators arrive. One plane that was heading to Provo diverted to SLC pic.twitter.com/x3KOXTVoGU
— Michael Locklear (@MichaelLocklear) January 2, 2023
Curt and Kimberly Payne were considering driving 22 hours to their home in Texas. Several people took rental cars to Arizona.
Amber Robinson was visiting family in Utah. She’d already boarded the plane home to Arizona when the crash happened, so everyone had to get off the plane.
“That’s so life,” she said. “You can’t help if it snows. You can’t help if there’s an accident.”
